The Fiercest Fighter
by tampoposensei
Summary: Kakashi x Iruka. Kakashi's wasted and Iruka must fight for both of them. Violence, language, yaoi. My attempt at a kickarse fighting Iruka fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer. I do love these guys, even though they're not mine. They belong, or should belong, totally and exclusively to each other.

Chapter 1. The Cave.

What the…?

Shit!

Now Iruka knew he was definitely, totally, fucked. It had been rotten damn luck, running into an ambush on his way back from delivering a message to Hidden Sand. A chuunin with a team of three genins. Hadn't taken him long to work that out. But he _had_ felt he had a decent chance of beating them, especially since he'd managed to get to a really good defensible position in this cave, but just now he had felt the unmistakable sensation of someone jutsuing into position behind him.

He froze, waiting for the attack. Shifting some of his focus from the two men at the cave entrance (hadn't he already killed two?), to the expanse of blackness behind. Nothing. Masked chakra, this was worse than he feared. There must have been a jounin with them that he'd missed, he was quite sure none of those he'd fought so far were capable of this level jutsu.

Well if this was the end then the least he could do was take as many of them with him as he could. He stepped forward towards the light of the setting sun, using his dark colouring to his advantage as he merged with the shadows of the cave wall. The chuunin was advancing too, soon he could see him quite clearly. He noted with satisfaction the wound he had inflicted on the man's upper right arm, a slice almost completely through the muscle, slicing it from the bone. The sides of the wound were pulled apart, red and shiny like the petals of a tropical flower, but with surprisingly little blood. That arm must be almost useless. He struggled to remember which hand the man had been holding his weapon in when he'd cut him. Please let him be right handed.

Hopping up to a ledge high on the side of the cave, he leapt down, curving his sword through the air as he went. One clean sweep to the neck should finish the job. His blade hit wood. A substitution jutsu. Stupid stupid to be taken in by such an elementary trick, one that any of his students could have done, all because of his 'glorious last stand' mentality. Before he could recover the genin had a kunai at his throat and he could feel the chuunin advancing from behind. Well, it had always been his karma to be stabbed in the back.

As he braced himself for the blow there was a bright flash from inside the cave and a loud shrill screech. With a look of terror that Iruka hoped he'd never see again, the genin dropped the kunai. And, reflexes working at double speed, he took his chance, slashing him through the ribs and into his liver. The youth slumped to the ground, gushing crimson blood like a draping of red silk. Iruka turned to see the chunin. He had a hole blasted through his chest and there was a matching hole in the tree beyond. Surely it couldn't be…?

Using every once of awareness still within his capability Iruka turned back to the cave and started to feel his way into it. It was dark, in fact it more than dark, it was a fucking black hole. Like being inside a box lined with black velvet. If only he could come up with a decent fire jutsu. But he was lousy at fire jutsus, especially when he was nervous like this. Water was his element.

Stop, get a grip. You're letting your mind wander all over the place. Just find out who the hell is back there.

He dropped to his hands and knees, to ease the spinning vertigo, and crawled forward. Glad that the painful roughness of the floor provided some sensation in the silent blackness. When he reached the back of the cave he sat down and turned around again. Night was closing in fast and the cave entrance was visible as little more than a smudge of grey a hundred or so yards distant. There was no sign of anyone or anything anywhere in the space between him and it. Then he heard a voice, the barest whisper but as clear as a siren in the silence.

"Keep it down will you? You're flaring much too bright, we don't need to offer a welcome light."

"Kakashi?" It had been unmistakable. Tamping down his chakra obediently, he crawled over to the source. His hands found hair first, then a cold metal headband, and finally a cloth covered face. Pulling the fabric down he planted a kiss on the other man's lips. He didn't respond and Iruka realised with horror that what he'd taken to be effective chakra masking was near fatal depletion.

"God you're spent. Go to sleep before you fucking die on me."

"You too, need you sharp tomorrow. Should be safe 'til then"

Iruka wanted to keep watch over his sleeping lover, but he was exhausted too, and Kakashi would know the best way to handle the situation. So he maneuvered his body to rest the other's limp form nested against him and fell asleep almost at once.

He woke up with him in his arms, not understanding at first why he was so damned uncomfortable. Then he remembered, the ambush, the cave, Kakashi. At least the copy nin's chakra was registering at readable levels now.

The sun had risen, reducing the darkness at the back of the cave to a near total gloom.

"What are you doing here Iruka?" A husky voice asked.

"What am I doing? Me? What the hell do you think you were doing jutsuing behind me like that when I was in the middle of a fight? What would you have done if I'd just come back here and killed you, I might have you know, just as easily."

"Died."

Iruka shook him by his shoulders.

"Don't you dare fucking joke about it." Iruka was crying silently into the silver hair tickling his face. Shocked and frightened, knowing that that's just what he would have done, should have done, if he hadn't thought the situation hopeless.

"Aah, Ruka stop. Hurts. Weak."

Iruka climbed over him so that he could see the other man's face, although he couldn't make out much more than a pale shadow.

"I'm not joking, if you'd killed me I would have died. Might have to yet."

There was a long pause, Iruka refusing to believe what he was hearing.

"I can't let them take me, you know that. I won't ask you to kill me, I can do that myself, but you will have to dispose…"

"No!" Kakashi felt a soft mouth clamped onto his, shutting him up.

The younger man held the kiss as long as he could before breaking away, gasping for air. "No one's going to die. Not while I can still fight. Who were you running from anyway?"

The silver hair shook a little, rustling against the stony ground.

"Dunno, never seen them before, but they came at me out of the mist. Lots of them. Copied ten new jutsus, good ones."

"Sharigan overuse."

The bushy hair twitched again. "Yeah, as soon as I uncovered the eye they just threw jutsus at me, dozens, all at once. Only lasted about thirty seconds, then I felt my knees giving out and used my last bit of energy to jutsu away."

"Not your last energy, what about…"

"Hmm, the chidori. Don't know where that came from. I just saw you about to die and pow! Got one last shot off."

"How long before you can walk?"

"A week at least, but they'll have tracked me down long before that."

Iruka sat up, adjusting his weight to find the least uncomfortable position on the uneven floor. "Just how _did _you end up in this cave Kakashi?"

"Safe, I focussed on being safe. I didn't know where the hell I was or where I could go so I just opened my mind to take me to the safest place I could reach and let it happen."

"And you landed in a fucking battle, great instincts."

"I landed with you Iruka, that's my safest place, next to you."

In response the other man leaned down and combed his fingers through the wild silver mop then lifted Kakashi's head onto his lap.

"You bet it is." He said grimly.

"So who chased _you_ into this cave? Kakashi asked again.

"Stone, an ambush. I'd just delivered a message to Hidden Sand, they must have thought I was still on the way and that they could take it from me. Either that or it was just bad luck."

Kakashi's voice contained an angry growl. "Tsunade sent you to Sand on your own? That's jounin's work!"

Iruka shook his head, although he knew it was true. "She didn't have anyone to spare, you're all out doing more important stuff."

"Yeah, running around in those damn marshes, chasing rumours. So she pulled you out of the academy instead. Who's teaching your classes."

The teacher couldn't suppress a hint of despair. "Naruto."

Kakashi exploded in laughter, his whole frame shaking uncontrollably. "Na… Naruto! I have to be there for graduation, there'll be a whole line up of sexy no jutsus. I'll take Jiraiya."

Iruka slapped his cheek gently. "Be serious. You said they would track you down, how soon."

His voice became grim again. "They didn't follow my trail or they'd have been right on top of me, but they must know that I couldn't get very far, they'll keep expanding the circle until they get here. I didn't have the chakra to go much more than a mile, so they'll probably be here within a day."

"Then eat something and we'll leave now, I'll carry you."

"Iruka! I'm dead weight, how far do you think you can get?"

Iruka sounded like the stern teacher he could be. "As far as I need to. I'm not leaving you Kakashi so don't even suggest it."

The copy nin matched him, the voice of command. "I'm the jounin here, it's my decision."

He got a flare of anger in response. "Cut the crap Kakashi, you can have me tried for treason when we get back. I'm going to see what I can do about those corpses. If they know who you are that chidori hole is as good as a neon sign."

He unwrapped a ration bar and pressed it into the other man's hand, before lifting his head off his lap, standing and making his way to the cave opening.

The genin he'd killed less than twelve hours before had already become mottled and purple and there were blow-fly eggs crusted around his bulging eyes, mouth and open wounds. Iruka wrinkled his nose at the smell that was starting to permeate the area then dragged him over to the chidoried tree. That had to be eliminated too. It took him almost an hour, longer than he would have liked, to gather the other corpses under tree and pile them with brush. Now he needed a flame, damn.

He went back into the cave and found Kakashi asleep with the untouched bar still in his hand. Kneeling beside him, he gently touched one of the pockets on his jacket.

"What are you doing Iruka?"

The teacher blushed. "Er, looking for matches?"

"And why the hell would I have matches?"

"To start a fire?"

"Use a jutsu, the seals are…"

"I know what the damn seals are." Iruka snapped. "I teach them remember. I'm just not good at fire jutsus.'

Kakashi's voice was quiet and calm. "Then perhaps you should be the one to carry matches."

Iruka knew the sarcasm was there even though he couldn't hear it. He bristled with indignation. "It was a straight message run, I didn't expect to be making bonfires out of corpses."

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence before Kakashi spoke. "Iruka come closer." The man's voice was no more than the faintest whisper. "Put your face next to mine."

Iruka lowered his face onto the other's so that they were touching, then felt the lips under his press a centimeter closer and open into a kiss, then fall back again.

"That's all I've got right now but it's all yours. You've done a lot of things you're not good at recently, you just completed a jounin level mission, you'd have defeated that ambush team alone if I hadn't rattled you and you just defied your field commander. So now go out there and start that fire."

Iruka grinned, then made contact again, this time deepening the kiss into a long slow smooch. He pulled away, broke a piece off the ration bar in Kakashi's hand and dropped it into his mouth, which was still hanging open as if begging for more.

"Eat. You can sleep while I carry you."

The fire started at the third attempt. By the time he had Kakashi hoisted on his back, secured in a sling made from his blanket, like a baby, and was running towards home it was blazing fiercely.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" The copy nin breathed in his ear.

Iruka snorted. "Come on Kakashi, it's not as if it's the first time I've had your weight on my back."

The older man smiled lecherously and nestled his face into the nape of his lover's neck while he enjoyed, as always, the flexing of Iruka's firm muscles under him.

No, and I just hope it won't be the last.


	2. Chapter 2

Soon the rough stony ground gave way to desert. A seemingly endless expanse of coarse red sand. By midmorning it would be burning hot and scoured by little dust eddies, stirred by the rising thermals, that threw grit into the eyes and mouth of anyone damn fool enough to try crossing it.

Iruka had planned to travel at night. He'd memorised his course plotted by stars, taken enough water for three days and expected to be back in the Leaf Country by two. But that was before the ambush by Stone and before Kakashi. Now he'd be running through the heat of the day, had only the blazing sun to steer by, water for two days if they were careful and he'd be lucky to get there in three.

But it wasn't hopeless. There was an oasis of sorts, a spring fed pool of the salty mineral water that littered parts of the desert with marshland. It was due east by his reckoning, if he could reach it by early afternoon and sleep in the shade until sundown, then he'd be able to get back on track and cover the rest of Sand Country in the coolness of night.

It didn't take long for Iruka to realise that he was being optimistic. Kakashi was heavier than he looked, and worse, carrying him shifted his balance making it hard to run on the loose sand. By noon he could go no further and there was no sign of the clump of trees he'd been scanning the bright horizon for.

He lowered himself to his hands and knees and gently rolled the sleeping burden off his back. By anchoring the blanket with stones and propping it at the front with his sword, he made a rough sun canopy over Kakashi then crept in beside him. Moments later he too was asleep.

He was woken by a hand being clamped over his mouth. With a flick of his head Kakashi indicated for him to look out into the sunlight. Far far away he could just make out some wavering dark blips against the sky. Now Iruka was glad that they'd traveled through the day. The constantly shifting sand will have hidden his tracks in a way that wouldn't have happened in the still of night.

"Who?" Iruka whispered.

"Not Sand. They don't move like that in the desert."

Iruka was amazed, Kakashi could tell at this distance? "Do you think they're the one's that, you know, attacked you?"

The silver head shook slowly. "No idea, but they haven't found us yet, they're headed to far to the north."

"Towards Hidden Stone?"

As they watched a black ball fell from the sky and landed on one of the figures, making it look as if it had two heads.

"Damn they're using birds."

"Hawks?'

"No, too big. More like eagles. Maybe vultures. That would make sense, they can live in Stone Country and the desert and they are one of the few birds with a good sense of smell."

"For tracking?"

"Yeah, but they can't match dogs. Doubt if they can pick out individuals and they'd be useless on the ground, under trees."

The bird took flight again and to their horror, headed straight towards where they were lying. Two of the figures split off from the group to follow.

Iruka knew what he had to do.

"Ok I'll draw them off. If you're right and they're going by smell they should head right to me. I've been running in the hot sun all day. Just lie here and don't move. If I'm not back by… well if I'm not back, then try to get to the spring as soon as you can. And stay under the trees. They'll send someone out looking for me in a couple of days."

He pulled his knees under him and was about to crawl out of their rough shelter when Kakashi pulled him back.

Iruka was surprised at how weak the hug was considering the passion he felt behind it. He closed the distance between them and returned it with a desperate kiss, pouring all his love into this strongest of men who was, right now, so terribly frail. As he pulled away he saw Kakashi's uncovered eye, dark and shining with an unshed tear. His voice was choked with emotion.

"Be careful."

Blinking the tears from his own eyes, there'd be time to cry over this later, he hoped, Iruka grabbed his sword. The blanket collapsed leaving a rough mound similar to the others on the desert floor. He quickly kicked a dusting of sand over it to complete the camouflage then dropped to the ground and crawled towards the approaching figures.

Soon he was able to see them quite clearly. Well before they were even aware of him, huddled into the hollows of the wind-drifted sand. And they were definitely Hidden Stone Ninjas. A man and a woman striding purposefully through the shimmering heat. Kakashi had been right, they didn't move like Sand. Nor like ninjas of hidden leaf, like him. He was raised in the forest and had learned almost from birth to hide in the shadows of trees, shifting with them, dancing and swaying in dappled sunlight. He was trained to fight in the three dimensions of the forest and its canopy, but here he was in open ground, like Stone Country. No shadows to hide in, no treetops to leap from. No wonder Stone shinobis were always so direct and fearless, they weren't used to having a choice.

The vulture's lazy circles in the sky were drifting unmistakably in his direction, he didn't have time to waste. Taking an attack stance he henged into the appearance of a rough red boulder. It didn't belong in this area of pebbles and sand and wouldn't have fooled Sand, who knew the desert, but it might just fool Stone, who knew only stones.

The bird closed in hanging above him, a looming presence, looking far too big to just float there unsupported. With a single flap of its wings it halved the distance between them to less than ten feet. Now it looked less like a bird than a winged creature from another age, or from a nightmare. It landed on his shoulder and arm, digging its huge talons through his skin and drawing out eight points of blood. The vulture noticed, reacting to the smell, but was fooled by the jutsu and soon relaxed and started picking at its feathers. With a three inch curved beak designed to rip flesh from bone.

The Stone shinobi was bristling with expectation. He'd seen the boulder, Leaf nins attacked from shadows and there was only one shadow for miles around. Iruka grinned in anticipation. Ok if that's where he wanted him to be then that's where he'd find him. The vulture shifted its position and saw his clone, shuriken in hand. It called a warning to its handlers, a high pitched mew, better suited to a fluffy kitten than this ugly scavenger. Iruka caught the man's acknowledgement, a bare twitch in the chakra bearing down on him.

In two leaps the Stone nin was three feet in front of him and plunging a dagger into the back of his clone's neck. Iruka broke the henge. The startled vulture soared into the sky as he sliced off the man's head and beheaded his own clone in a single swipe. The Stone shinobi collasped into a lifeless heap and his clone poofed out of existence, while he leapt to what he hoped was, a defensible distance behind the konoichi. At least he'd evened the odds.

Or maybe not.

As soon as she turned towards him he knew just how outclassed he was. Definitely a jounin. Not a genius elite like Kakashi, she wouldn't last a minute against the copy nin's formidable strength. But the kind of hardworking highly trained jounin that _he_ might have had a chance of becoming, if his life had taken that path. And there was the bird too, he remembered as he dodged its stoop. It was still two against one.

He had no more tricks. Water jutsus were his strength but there _was_ no water here. Within seconds she had him on the run, dodging attacks, slashing at clones, barely able to keep one step ahead. He'd only last minutes at this rate. He sent two of his own clones circling towards her from opposite directions. She wouldn't be fooled for a moment but she couldn't ignore the danger either and it would at least give him time to catch his breath.

One of his clones disappeared, which was strange because he hadn't felt a drop in chakra as it 'died'. Then it reappeared from thin air seconds later. She dispatched it at once with a blow from her spear-like weapon. He leapt away again and threw two shuriken, mildly surprised when she returned none of her own. Clearly she was in no hurry, she was enjoying the chase. The vulture fell out of the sky towards him again. He ducked and slashed at it with his sword, forcing it back up without shredding anything more serious than his hair tie.

Then as Iruka flicked his hair from his eyes he saw what had been in plain sight the whole time. Water, shimmering pools, but they weren't water they were heat mirages. Suddenly he realised what had happened to his clone, the whole area was a natural hall of mirrors. It had vanished behind a bend in the light, the same kind that was causing these silvery illusions. As the intense afternoon desert heat caused ripples and fluctuations in the air, it created distortions in the light passing through it. Distortions he could hide in, like the shadows and shimmers on the forest floor. He just had to read them.

He sent a volley of shuriken's against the bird that was bearing down on him again, and spinning off three clones to continue his attack, he slipped into a silvery plume of hot air. The whole world vanished into shining mist. It's just like being underwater. Iruka told himself. Water I can breath. Now all he had to do was get close enough for a kill before she'd destroyed all the clones and came looking for the original.

Tracking the konoichi by her chakra, as long as he couldn't see her then she couldn't see him, he sunk to his belly and crawled forward into a pool of light. From there he leapt into another column, one that swirled this time. He was close but running out of time, two of the clones were already gone. A final lunge into a dome of rising air. Then he hurled himself forward and the world blinked back into view. She was two feet in front of him, weapon raised. He stabbed his sword through her heart and down into a lung, at the very same instant that she launched her spear over his shoulder at the last of his clones.

The ground came up to meet him as he finally allowed his legs to fold and sat down, head between his knees, shivering and sweating with heat exhaustion. There was room for only one thought in his sun addled brain. Kakashi, I must get back while I can still find him. He dragged himself to his feet and staggered back towards where he had left the other man. Overhead the vulture flew one more lazy circle then headed north.

It had been less than an hour since he'd left Kakashi, hidden by the blanket, but the surface of the sand was as fluid as the surface of the ocean. The little furrows and ridges changed even as he watched them. He wasn't even sure that he was in the right place. In desperation he fell to his knees and started clawing at the larger mounds. Then he noticed a bump that didn't quite fit in with the others. It was a little larger and at a slightly different angle. He ran over to it and scraped at the surface. Red sand was covering grey wool. With a silent prayer of thanks he found an edge and peeled it back, to reveal a silver haired man, sleeping peacefully. Well Hatake Kakashi, you are one cool customer. Whenever you're in a battle I'm shitting bricks the whole time and here you are fast asleep.

The copy nin opened his eyes and saw Umino Iruka sitting beside him. Tangled sweaty hair blowing in the hot breeze, splattered with gore, crusted with sand and grinning like an idiot. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

He pulled himself onto one elbow and grinned back. "So you got them, knew you would."

Iruka nodded. "Except the bird, that got away."

"So did they have anything on them?"

Iruka looked confused. "What… what do you mean on them Kakashi?"

"Please don't tell me that you forgot to search their bodies."

The disbelief on the copy nin's unmasked face made him feel five years old.

Iruka stuttered. "I… I didn't forget, I didn't know I was supposed to. I just wanted to get back here in case you were suffocating under the sand, or dying from heat, or I couldn't find you again." His face was glowing red.

Kakashi smiled benevolently. "Iruka come closer."

"But… but I'm all disgusting. Sweaty and bloody and dirty…"

"You're never disgusting to me Iruka. As if I haven't ever come home covered in someone else's blood and guts. Now come here so that I can kiss you."

Still blushing the teacher snuggled next to him, closing his eyes against the constant assault of wind-blown sand. Parched lips found parched lips. Dry gritty tongues caressed each other painfully. It was the sweetest kiss Iruka could remember.

Kakashi brushed the matted hair out of his eyes and whispered in his ear. "Now take me back there and we'll see what we can find. We have to find out what Stone ninjas are doing here and why. And we won't find any clues unless we look for them."


	3. Chapter 3

It was harder than Iruka had expected to take Kakashi back to the scene of his battle. Not carrying him. That seemed almost normal now, and the copy nin had regained enough strength to help balance himself at least. What was hard was letting Kakashi see the brutal and ruthless way he had cut down his enemies. Although they both knew that he had only done what needed to be done, somehow he just didn't want his lover to look at him as a cold-blooded killer in the way he knew Kakashi viewed himself.

Iruka stopped just before they got to the first corpse, the woman. Kakashi was whispering in his ear. "I don't need to see the bodies. It's not as if we have to work out what killed them. Leave me here and bring me anything that looks out of place or interesting." It was almost as if he knew what he was thinking, or did he feel that way too? He set him down on the blanket and went to his grisly task.

Her pockets yielded standard rations, weapons, a picture of another woman. (Her sister? Lover?) Little else. But she did have a carafe of water. That would be useful! He mentally kicked himself for not checking for_ that_ at least.

He handed the picture to Kakashi and made his way over to the man. His head was lying a few feet from the body, staring up. A handsome young face, dark and angular, still with a look of shocked surprise. Iruka stepped over it. The blood in the sand, and there was a lot of it, had hardened to the consistency of tar gluing the man to the ground. Again he found nothing worthwhile. The entire search of both bodies had taken no more than a few minutes but Iruka felt as if it had taken years off his life.

He took the man's water and made his way back to where Kakashi was lying, stopping to pick up some of his scattered shuriken along the way. He dropped the weapons on the blanket then propped the other man into a sitting position before uncapping the carafe and handing it to him.

"Drink it, you aren't drinking enough. You haven't taken a piss all day."

Kakashi chuckled hoarsely. "So you noticed."

Iruka gave him a dark look. Yeah, it's a teacher thing. Spend a few days shut up in a room with a bunch of twelve year olds and you get sensitive to how often they leave to take a piss."

The copy nin drank deeply while the teacher stared at him disapprovingly. He handed the carafe back and lay down, grimacing and pulling a shuriken from where it was sticking into his ribs.

"Yours?" He asked holding it out. Iruka nodded.

"Where are their's?"

"They didn't throw any, guess they thought they didn't need to, against a chuunin."

Kakashi paused to consider for a moment. "Unlikely. Get me their weapons."

Iruka went back to pry the man's dagger from the bloody sand. Then retrieved the woman's spear. He held them out for Kakashi to see.

He took the dagger and looked at it closely. "These aren't ninja weapons. This was set up to look like a bandit attack.

Iruka was stunned. "Bandits! Why?"

"That's what we need to find out. That ambush yesterday, what did they use then?"

"The kid pulled a kunai on me, I remember, I thought it was the last thing I would ever see."

"Right, a kid. He slipped up and used the weapon he was most comfortable with. What about the others?"

Iruka was silent, there was nothing to say. The weapons were sharp, lethal, pointed at him. And he was outnumbered four to one. He hadn't paid close attention, but he now knew Kakashi would have.

"The woman was the leader right?" Kakashi pulled the slightly crumpled photograph from his pocket and looked it over, shaking his head. "Hand me her weapon."

Taking the offered spear he held it lightly, feeling its balance. Then holding it in one hand, propped at the elbow, he used the other hand to lift his headband.

"No!" Iruka yelled, using both hands to cover the exposed sharigan. "You mustn't do that. Not yet."

Kakashi pushed his hands away roughly. Then, gripping the spear in both hands, pulled sharply in opposite directions. Although there had been no visible join, the spear broke in two and a small tightly wound scroll slipped out of it and fell onto the blanket.

Iruka was chastened and subdued. He picked up the scroll and handed it to Kakashi, who re-covered his eye then unwound the scroll and looked it over.

"Intelligence. With a Leaf Anbu seal. Say's that Gaara's in a plot against Konoha, with Uchiha Itachi. To help him stage a coup. A document like this could break the alliance."

If anything Iruka felt relieved. "Feh, that's pretty far fetched. It's obvious to anyone that it's a forgery."

The tone of Kakashi's voice made him reconsider as much as his words. "Is it? It's not so different to what he did with Sound a few years back, lots of people still don't trust him, even in his own village. If it was found on one of our messengers and written by one of our spies it would have to be taken seriously. And a chuunin messenger is more likely to get taken down by bandits."

"But Gaara and Itachi?"

"That's the really scary part. Do you know why I was sent out here in the first place?"

Iruka shook his head.

"Rumours. Of a new cult leader, out in these marshes. Gathering all kinds of riffraff by offering them power and wealth."

Iruka was shaken but still trying hard not to be convinced. "So, you get powerful missing nins doing that kind of thing all the time. Remember Zabuza of Hidden Mist out in the wave country?"

"Yeah, but the rumours say this one has red whirling eyes."

He paused, giving it time to sink in before he continued. "This is more important than just you and me Iruka. There's something going on here, something big. Stone will keep coming after you every inch of the way until they kill you. And that bird of their's knows where we are. We have to find another way back, through the marshes, under the trees."

"But you were almost killed in those marshes. If Itachi really is there…"

The copy nin's voice was as soft as velvet but the intent behind it was pure steel. "Iruka, we… you, have to get that scroll back to Konoha. If you fail Hidden Stone will plant another one like it on the body of the next chuunin runner Tsunade sends out here on his own." He smiled in an attempt to further soften the effect. "Now let's see if we can find your little oasis before it gets dark."

Nightfall came quickly in the desert, but by the time it did Iruka had already marked the position of the scraggly palms and desert oaks of the mineral pool. They reached it just as the moon, a waxing gibbous, was rising. He spread the blanket under an oak that was growing beside the deceptively inviting water. He lay Kakashi on it and they shared the food and water that he had carefully rationed between them.

"Go to sleep, you still need it." He said once they had finished. "I'm going to take a bath and see if I can wash some of the blood out of my clothes. We can't drink the stuff but it is still water."

Kakashi wished he could join him. That would be fun. "Good idea, but before you do I need you to stand me up."

"Why is there a problem?"

"Yeah, I need to take a piss, your fault for giving me all that water."

Iruka grinned then propped him into a sitting position before crouching behind him and pulling him upright. Compared to carrying him it was surprisingly awkward. They shuffled a few yards then Iruka stopped and reached a hand around to fumble for Kakashi's fly. He was glad that the other man couldn't see his flushed face but he knew he could feel his hot breath on the back of his neck.

Kakashi could feel much more than that. He leaned back, not just for support, but to enjoy the growing tension in the body behind him. He vibrated with the pounding heartbeats, matching them quickly with his own, and relished the tremor in the groping hand as it released him from the surrounding cloth."

"It's just a piss, don't get carried away." He said teasingly but maybe just slightly breathlessly too.

Once he was done Iruka dragged him back to the blanket and rezipped his pants in silence. Then he waded into the water, fully clothed, and started scubbing at the crusted blood on his uniform. He was almost painfully aroused, had been for most of the day, although the past few minutes had encouraged it to become particularly… intense. Once he felt his clothes were as clean as possible he took them off under water, swirled them to rinse and lay them on some scrubby bushes at the side of the pond.

The mineral water was relaxing and it felt good to wash the grit and filth off his skin and out of his hair. But it did sting his eyes uncomfortably. And it was failing miserably to relax another part of him. He couldn't sleep next to Kakashi naked, not like this. He reached for his wet boxers and waded out of the pool.

"Don't bother putting them on."

Kakashi was looking at him. One eyed, open lipped. Rolling the tip of his tongue around the inner edge of his mouth as he watched shining water slide from smooth brown skin. Little rivulets draining from loose dark hair, trickling over the taught muscles of Iruka's back, finding the easier paths along the hollows next to his spine. Then disappearing into the glorious furrow between his tight buttocks. Even the scars were beautiful, pale against the dark skin. Contrasting streaks like the lines of grain in a perfect marble statue. Kakashi was suddenly thirstier than he had been out in the desert. Longing to lap at that water, however bitter the minerals, it would be so sweet.

"What do you mean? Why not?" Iruka could see the other man's lust, he knew it well. Reveled in it. But now? He could barely move!

"Because I want you to fuck me."

"Kakashi! What…?"

"Look Iruka, you're as horny as hell. You think I don't know what fighting like that does to you? I know what it does to me. You should too by now."

Iruka turned away, blushing fiercely. Remembering the many times Kakashi had come home bloodstained and exhausted, but instead of collapsing on the bed had pressed him against the nearest wall.

Kakashi smirked as he continued. "And you've had me right up against you most of the day. I'd love to take care of it for you, but frankly I just don't have it in me right now. But I think it would feel pretty damn good to have _you_ in _me_."

Iruka's eyes led him back to the other man's face, becoming strangely liquid. Chocolate eyes, Kakashi noted. Dark sweet chocolate, not bittersweet. There was no bitterness in this man, just infinite sweetness.

The look caused his blush to spread over his entire body setting it on fire with desire. "But Kakashi, you don't have energy to waste."

The copy nin's voice was rough and breathless. "It won't take much, you'll have to do all the work. And it will be worth it. If we die tomorrow it will be a better memory to take to our graves than just lying under this fucking tree all night."

Iruka nodded. He took Kakashi's sandals off first, setting them neatly aside, then undid his leg bindings, rolling them round his hands and putting the neat bundles inside his sandals. His weapon holster was set beside them, then the teacher moved his trembling hands to his lover's waist and started to unfasten his pants. He was pleased to see that Kakashi was surprisingly firm, given his weakened state. He held it in his hand, squeezed it and kissed it once before pulling the pants the rest of the way off and folding them up.

Kakashi smiled up at him. "Don't stop there, take everything off. I want you to take me naked."

He obediently took of the jacket, the shirt and finally the mask that was pooled around Kakashi's white throat. He folded them and added them to the pile. Then came back, eased him onto his stomach and knelt between his legs.

Iruka looked at the pale body, stretched out on the blanket in front of him like a resting baby. Arms stretched out and bent at the elbows so that his hands were level with his head and his fingers splayed onto the blanket. His head rested on one side and his eyes, or at least the visible one, closed. His hair was straight and limp in the dry air, but thickened and coarsened by dust. It spread out on the dark blanket glistening white in the moonlight, pale and exotic like the man himself. God he was beautiful. Iruka didn't look at his lover this way often. Of course he knew what he looked like naked, but it was from brief glances and sideways looks when they shared a shower, even those made him blush. But now, for the first time, he looked at Kakashi the way Kakashi always looked at him.

He ran the back of his middle fingernail along the curved instep of a white foot, making Kakashi's body convulse in little twitches, continuing the path up over the curve of his calf and to the dimple behind his knee. Using both hands now, he ran his thumbs along the hollow cut in the firm white muscles on his inner thighs. Long lean thighs. Slowly creeping higher until they met, leaving him with the prize, the treasure, cupped in his hands. He released it and rested his hands on the ground just under the other's armpits, leaning his weight into them, making their bodies barely touch. It sent shivers through both of them.

"Oh god, you just seem so helpless, I feel as if I'm raping you."

Kakashi's laugh was far too breathless. "Ha, not a bad image. The fierce warrior and his helpless prisoner of war. Want to tie me up?"

It broke the tension, making Iruka laugh too. "No you pervert! But I'll need something, you know to prepare…"

"In my jacket, top pocket."

The teacher flashed red with jealousy. "What the hell do you need to take it on a mission with you for?"

Kakashi grinned into the blanket. "I don't, I stopped off in your classroom at lunchtime before I left remember."

Iruka did remember. And he remembered Hyuga Hanabi asking if the shiny smear left on her desk after lunch was honey, as he'd hurriedly cleaned it with disinfectant. His cheeks burned even brighter, if possible. "Yeah, that's right, sorry."

He applied the slick ointment to both of them. Trying to focus on the things that Kakashi always did, making sure he got it right, but focussing wasn't coming easy right now.

Kakashi barked an order at him. "Iruka, enough. You're teasing me to death."

It was enough. Kakashi's whole body was completely relaxed offering no resistance, just the snugness of the perfect fit between a hand and a well made glove, accompanied by a quiver of pleasure. God it felt good. Then hard hot sex.

It didn't last long. They came together, an explosive release, with harsh guttural grunts that sounded like wild animals out there in the wilderness. They were animals, there was nothing civilised in what they were doing. It was too essential to be civilised, too basic to even be human. Just a raw response to their primal need for each other.

Iruka lay forward onto his partner's body, breathing hard onto the back of his neck. His skin prickling with salt, from the water and from within his own body, but with no sweat in the dry desert air. "That was good, you're better, but it was good."

"Yeah, we'll do it this way again. Sometimes."

Iruka rolled over onto his side and flipped the blanket over them both. "Sometimes."

They slept until morning.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun rose as quickly as it had set. A limpid ball of orange light set in a band of gold, brightening and blending with, the dark blue sky.

"Pretty isn't it?" Kakashi said, leaning over to brush a tangled dark strand away from Iruka's face.

"Mmmm." He agreed opening his eyes and wondering, as he often did, just how Kakashi could tell the exact moment he woke up. "Yes, it's called a green dawn. I've heard of them but never seen one before, they're quite rare. It's supposed to be the most beautiful sky you'll ever see."

"Think it is?"

Iruka sighed. "Maybe." From where he was lying the beauty of nature took second place. It didn't fill his heart with warmth and make his skin glow the way the lean muscular torso and fine-featured face above him did. "But I wouldn't really know."

He sat up and brushed a hand over the other man's silver hair, tinted pink with red dust. Too dusty and thick to run his fingers through the way he wanted too. "We still have a lot of skys to see together and I won't know which is the best until we've seen the all." He smiled shyly and closed his eyes, leaning in to claim a kiss. Then he realised something.

"Kakashi, you're sitting up!"

The copy nin grinned widely, showing his even white teeth. "My, you're quick today aren't you Iruka-sensei?

"Can you stand?"

The grin became a more subdued smile and the shaggy head shook slowly. "Not without a lot of support. Maybe by tommorrow. You were good for me last night, released some energy and made me sleep the way I needed too."

Iruka climbed onto Kakashi's lap, hooking his legs behind him and wrapping his arms around his back so that their firm bellies were pressed together. There was laughter dancing in his eyes. "It's my duty to help another Konoha shinobi."

This time he did kiss him. Nipping his lips softly then pressing forward with his tongue into the other's eager mouth, running it along the edge of his teeth then sucking and licking. Tussling with the tongue already there as if he was trying to wrestle it into submission, and making saliva flow like precious water into their dry mouths. Kakashi let out a long breath then responded fiercely. Gripping Iruka's shoulders from behind, forcing them together with unexpected strength. Desperate to taste this man again, know his sweetness and feed on it greedily. It was one helluva good kiss.

They were both still naked and Iruka could feel Kakashi hardening into the space between his thighs, while becoming aware of the fire ignited in his own groin. His lips curved into a smile and he pulled away and started to get up, flushed, heart pounding.

"Looks like you're hungry. I'll get us some food."

Kakashi pulled him back down. "Not yet." The copy nin's voice was low and gruff. He tightened the clinch, drooping his head forward. "Just let me hold you for a while."

By the time they parted the green had faded from the sky, leaving the more conventional pink and grey of a desert dawn. Iruka got some rations and a carafe of water from where he'd left them.

He was surprised at how unselfconscious he felt, walking around naked. Usually the only time he wanted to be completely nude was in bed, with Kakashi, with Kakashi's hands and body on him. Otherwise it made him feel slightly indecent, even in his own home behind closed curtains. But it was different here, in this wild desolate place, far from any human habitation. For just this brief time they were at one with nature, in their natural state. And despite the dire circumstances that had brought them here, he cherished it.

"How are we doing?" Kakashi asked as he sat back down.

"Enough food to get by. It's water that's the problem. Obviously it drains from the mountains into an aquifer under the desert but it's all tainted with these minerals. Not much chance of finding anything fresh." He caught a look in Kakashi's eye. Suddenly the kiss made sense.

"Hell no!" We've already been through this. I'm not fucking leaving you."

The man in question kissed Iruka's shoulder then started to trace lazy circles on his back with the palm of his hand. Trying to release the tension. "It's not just about us anymore, I told you yesterday. You have to get this information back home, hundreds of lives could be at stake."

Iruka turned to face him, eyes wide, deadly serious. "That's why we have to go together. You're wrong this time Kakashi. I can run and fight the way you can't right now, but I damn well couldn't have got this far without you. I'm not a genius. I wouldn't have seen the significance of them using a vulture to track me, I wouldn't have noticed that their weapons were wrong and there's just no way in the world I could have found that scroll."

He swept his hand in the direction of the desert horizon. "As you said, this is jounin's work. If you force me to run off there on my own I don't have a hope in hell of getting that scroll to Konoha. They'll just track me down the way they did twice already."

Kakashi looked at him stony-faced then cracked a thin smile. "And you claim you're _not_ a genius. Help me to get dressed."

Neither of them knew the area well, no sane person would want to. But Kakashi had been reconnoitering in the marshes for nearly two weeks and he'd mentally copied every map in Konoha long ago. Iruka, of course, taught this stuff. So in theory they should both have a pretty good idea of where they were and where to go. But a map in a classroom and a vast stretch of open desert in Wind Country were very different, when you were out there, with the wind swept sand scouring your skin.

Iruka drew a rough map in the sand with the tip of a kunai and they planned their route. They would track north along the border with Stone Country then south to Fire Country through Hidden Grass. Iruka looked at the distances involved with dismay.

"It's not so bad." Kakashi assured him. We should find some water once we get close to Hidden Rain. There is a reason it's called Rain."

Unconciously Iruka stabbed the tip of his weapon repeatedly into the middle of the outline for Stone Country. "Couldn't we just cut through Rain Country back home? It would take a day off our journey."

Kakashi shook his head. "Too mountainous. There's no way you can carry me over that kind of terrain."

Iruka knew that it was true. But he also knew how easily the other man, when he was at full strength, could have carried him.

By directing chakra into the sand, Iruka soon detected the flow of water beneath it. Water was something he understood. He helped Kakashi to climb onto his back, he could hold on by himself now and didn't need to be secured with the blanket. That had been packed with their supplies in Irukas small pack, which Kakashi wore. It was easier that way and he was strong enough now that its weight wasn't a problem.

They followed the path of the underground river. Starting early so that they would reach the cover of trees, where it seeped through to the surface, before the sun became too hot. It should have been a lot easier than the previous days trek a cross the hot sand. And in many ways it was, but Iruka's clothes were stiff where they had dried in the dry desert air, and crusted with salts from the water, and with sand from, well everywhere. After less than an hour they were chafing badly. After two hours he was in real pain. He felt foolish. He was a Konoha shinobi, and he was being worn down by uncomfortable clothes! Fortunately he saw the outline of trees on the horizon that marked the true beginning of the marshy area. Another hour and he would be able to rest.

This was a true marsh. Unlike the little oasis of the previous night with its deep pool and sandy banks, the water here was inches deep and the ground soft and spongy. Covered in coarse grass and releasing foul rotten odours as he stepped on it. The extra weight he was carrying made Iruka sink up to his calves. When he took a step the sticky mud sucked off a sandal, making him stagger to regain his footing.

"This is going to be a problem, I can hardly walk much less run."

Kakashi slid from his back and stood shakily, leaning his weight against him. "We'll take a break, then cut across to the other side. The ground might be firmer closer to the mountains."

It was not a refreshing respite. Iruka sat Kakshi against one of the larger trees, which was still pitifully scrawny, by the standards of anyone who had grown up surrounded by forest. Then sat beside him in the rank water. The whole area was buzzing with insects that formed clouds around their heads. Forcing them to flap and swat constantly or be bitten to pieces.

"Argh let's get out of here I can't stand it!" Iruka gasped as he swallowed his last mouthful of food. Then he froze. A glance at Kakashi told him that he had heard too. Men, five or six of them, headed towards them through the marsh.

"They've found us?" Iruka whispered.

Kakashi shook his head. "Not ninja's. Even Naruto has better stealth."

Almost immediately he was contradicted by a shuriken slamming into the tree next to him. Whoever they were they moved fast. Returning a shuriken of his own, Iruka hastily formed the necessary seals then jutsued through the water, at least he was in his element here, and appeared behind them. Leaving four water clones on the ground, he hopped up into a tree. A kunai to the throat killed the closest man, while one of his clones took out another.

He was feeling in control, just take it slowly. But then he saw that one of them had turned towards Kakashi. Cold sweat sprinkled his temples and the back of his neck. If only he'd had a concealment jutsu to hide the man with, but he hadn't expected to need one on a simple message run to an ally. Leaping from the tree he landed between the copy nin and the threat, while one of his clones moved in from the other side. The man was a giant. Nearly eight feet tall even without the ox horns on his mask. And he had an ox skin, complete with tail, draped over his back. It was a fitting image, a great black ox.

Iruka stole a look back to Kakashi, who had his hands half formed into the beginning of a seal. He wanted to scream at him to not do anything stupid. He could handle this. Or could he? The ox man had just pulled out a four-foot long sword with a curved double pointed blade. Now that was not a typical ninja weapon. Iruka saw the giant glance from him to his clone, as if deciding which one to strike. He knew that he could slip back into the water in an instant, but that would leave Kakashi unprotected, it wasn't an option.

The huge man raised his sword. Iruka gathered chakra to block or dodge. With a bellow that made every bird for miles take flight the masked man sliced clean through the clone. The two halves fell away from each other, turned back into water and rained down onto the ground. By now Iruka had three shuriken in his hand and was ready to leap. This giant ox wasn't so scary, he was strong but he was slow. But big men like this could take a lot of damage, and he wasn't the only one he had to worry about.

As if on cue a kunai zipped towards him, he dodged it easily, and the second, but the third anticipated his move and sliced the muscle of his upper left arm. They were good fighters, but they didn't know any jutsus. He directed more of his energy back to his clones to keep them busy, it was a strain but he wouldn't need to keep it up for long. The black ox raised his sword above him and looked ready to charge. Iruka flashed through the seals for his water snake jutsu and a transparent reptile coiled up from the swamp and around the masked man, stopping him in his tracks. That would slow him down even more. Now to finish off the others.

Then the giant jutsued. Iruka felt the distinctive sparkle of chakra and all of his clones and the water snake melted into the ground. A cancellation jutsu! But how did he do it? The huge man still had his huge sword in his right hand. There was no way he could have fashioned seals.

Iruka didn't have time to worry right now, that same huge sword was swinging towards his head. He leaped over the black ox, pulled his own sword from its place on his back and drove it hard into the giant's spine. The massive body folded forward onto its self then fell into the shallow water with a resounding plunk. Yep, strong but slow.

Now for the other three. They triangulated around him, bristling with kunais and shurikens. He shot high into the air, boosted by a column of water. Then, as the water crashed back forcing his enemies off balance, he picked then off one at a time using the shurikens still in his hand. Hitting each one neatly between the eyes, before landing in a crouch in the middle again. Now if they had been real ninjas with real ninja headbands that wouldn't have happened.

Without the power of his jutsus to hold him he started sinking into the mud. Squelching and slooshing, he made his way back to Kakashi and grabbed his hands.

"What the hell do you think you're doing making seals. If you start using ninjitsu you'll never get your chakra back where it needs to be and I'll be carrying you for weeks. I'll get bad knees and varicose veins…"

Kakashi laughed and pulled the hands down, making Iruka fall forward onto him. "I was just getting ready to make a little mist, in case you needed it. You always were good in mist."

"But I didn't need it."

"No, and I didn't do it. I'm not a fool, I know what I'm doing."

Iruka reddened and looked down at the mud he was kneeling in. "I'm sorry, I didn't… I shouldn't…" He looked up again sadly. "I just hate seeing you so weak."

Kakashi pushed Iruka's ragged, untied hair back from his face and looked into his soft brown eyes. "And I hate being weak, but I love seeing you strong." He shifted his attention to the carnage in front of them. "So these must be some of Itachi's men, if it is Itachi."

"Suppose so. As you said, riffraff, easy enough to take down. But it looks as if he's given them some ninja training."

"Yes and that jutsu was interesting, no seals."

"So you saw, well of course you saw. How do you think he did it?"

"He put his left hand under his cloak then poof! That's all I could see, without the eye…"

Iruka went over to the man's body and folded back the ox skin. There were a number of pouches sewn inside it. He patted them down and took out a shiny iridescent ball, a little smaller than his fist.

He held it up for the other man to see. "Remember you said they threw jutsus at you, what exactly did you mean?"

Kakashi rubbed at his sharigan, under the headband. "That's the impression that I got, that they literally threw them, like… like balls."

Their eyes met in silent understanding. Iruka threw the ball at a tree twenty feet away. It instantly burst into flames and burned to ash in a matter of seconds.

"Iruka-sensei, and you said you were no good at fire jutsus."

"So these are jutsus for people who can't do jutsus."

"Yes, a bit like our scrolls except these seem to have the chakra already sealed inside them. They don't need to be activated. Even an ordinary bandit can use them and that makes these 'riffraff' very dangerous."

It was one more problem that Iruka just did not need. "They're faster than I am too, except if I use chakra."

Kakashi stared at him with genuine surprise. "You didn't notice? Look at their feet."

He looked down at the giant's shoes. They had large flat oval paddles buckled onto them. Iruka grinned then took them off and strapped them to his own feet. They spread his weight like snowshoes, stopping him from sinking into the mud.

"Yes! Now I can walk. And both of us together probably weigh less than he did. Let's get moving and away from these damn flies."

"We can try. The problem with flies is that no matter how many you kill there are always just as many out there waiting to bite you."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Oro-sama, for unedited love scenes try linking to:- http:slash slash www dot livejournal dot com slash users slash tampoposensei slash (no spaces) This page doesn't support links. I've started posting them there. But don't get your hopes too high, it's not _that _different.


	5. Chapter 5

Iruka was sweating. Out in the open the dry desert air and the hot sun had evapourated the sweat on his skin before he was even aware of it. But here in the marsh, under the trees, the humidity was much higher. Perspiration ran into his eyes, under his chin and stung the raw flesh of his chaffed skin. It attracted the flies too. At times he could hardly see through the cloud of insects that buzzed in his face, crawled on his skin and stung him maddeningly.

He'd never really been tortured, unless you count having to teach Naruto and Sasuke in the same class. And he was once badly beaten by a stronger enemy who thought it was more fun to hurt him than to kill him. But he was being tortured now.

At the first dry patch of ground, a hillock formed by the roots of a tree, he eased Kakashi off his back and sat him down. He pulled out a kunai, grabbed a fistful of dark hair, and started sawing at it. In an instant the copy nin was standing beside him, holding back the knife in a vice like grip.

"What the hell are you doing Iruka?"

He was too surprised to answer at first so he stared at him, trying to work out what had just happened. "I… I have to get rid of this hair, I can't stand it. It's all tangled, and in my eyes, and making me sweat…"

Kakashi took the kunai and lowered it to his side, using his other hand to stroke over the tangled locks. "Please don't cut it Iruka, I love your hair. I'll untangle it for you I promise, when… when we get home."

"Kakashi, you don't even own a comb!"

"Then I'll buy one just for you."

In a single fluid move he sliced a length of cloth from his leg binding then pulled Iruka's hair to the top of his head and secured it into a ponytail of dreadlocks. He planted a kiss on the teacher's sweaty forehead then held him at arm's length, just looking at him.

"Better now?"

Iruka smiled and nodded. Then he looked at the hand Kakashi had taken the kunai from. "But how…? You moved so fast!"

"I had to, it was an emergency. I'm stronger, but I can't keep it up for long… yet. I'd probably fall over right now if you pushed me."

Iruka hooked an arm around him protectively. "Then I'll have to be careful not to push you."

Back under the tree he steadied Kakashi while he lowered himself to the ground, then sat next to him. He unbuckled the 'mud shoes' from his feet, linked the buckles together and hooked them over his belt.

"You were right, the ground is firmer here. I don't think I need these now."

The tree was larger than most and denser, casting more shade. But they couldn't linger for long. They each took a drink from their dwindling supply and set out to cover as ground as possible before nightfall.

Compared to squelching over sticky mud in clumsy flapping 'mud shoes,' running in sandals felt like flying. The ground was uneven and littered with large flat rocks so that there was a mosaic of stepping stones sticking up a few inches above the water all around. Even where there were no dry places, the surface under the water was gravel rather than soft sand and mud. And where there was less mud, there were fewer flies. Iruka's sore skin was bleeding enough to lubricate itself, easing the discomfort. So as long as he didn't let it dry and stick to his clothes he would be able to put up with it. Not that he had a choice.

In the next two hours they traveled further than they had in the previous six. So when the sunlight filtering through the sparse trees became tinted with gold, Iruka wasn't anxious to stop. He was sure that they could press on for at least another hour. Then he saw something. Leaning slightly, he snatched the flowerhead from a plant growing near a shallow pool. He looked at it, crushed it in his hand then inhaled the fragrance.

"I know this kind of plant." He said, letting the crushed petals drop from his fingers. "It grows along the river through the forest in Konoha, it's a fresh water plant. Fresh, not salt."

He skirted the thick reeds by the edge of the pool to another deeper pool.

"Over there!" Kakashi said, pointing, realising what they'd found. Sure enough on the far side of the pool, the water, which had been glassy smooth everywhere, was rippled and bubbling.

Iruka flattened a patch of reeds on the dry part of the bank with his feet, put Kakashi down on it and waded into the water. Scooping some into his hands, he tasted it then turned to face the other man, grinning widely.

"Yes! Fresh water, a fresh water spring."

"So that's where they're getting their damn water." Kakashi said. "I knew that the bandits and outlaws living here were raiding anyone within a hundred miles for rice and wheat, and there's tons of fish and game in the marsh, but I just couldn't find a way they could be hauling enough fresh water over the desert. Not without me tracking it."

"Do you think they'll come back here?" Iruka asked, suddenly alarmed.

"No, they haven't been to this spring, I'd be able to tell. There must be others. But it might mean that we're getting close to their main camp."

Iruka's enthusiasm was dampened but not dead. "Well let's rest now, we could both use it. We'll stay here for the night, take a bath and wash our hair and clothes. Now we can drink as much water as we like."

"Right, last one in is cold ramen." Kakashi said, starting to undress.

"But I'm already in." Iruka pointed out, splashing him playfully.

"Yes." Kakashi said with a smirk. "I've seen you eat cold ramen lots of times."

Iruka blushed at the mild indecency of the remark then climbed out to help the other man. As he got closer Kakashi noticed the blood stain on the crotch of his pants.

"Iruka! What's that? Did you get cut fighting?"

"Er no. Just on my arm. That's just from the sand in my clothes, it's been rubbing."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Take them off and let me see."

Iruka pulled down his pants, stepped out of them and knelt down, acutely embarrassed, feeling like a thirteen year old in a doctor's office. He was still slightly swollen from fighting earlier, and the soreness and irritation added to it. Now Kakshi was sitting with his face almost in his crotch.

The copy nin traced a finger around the raw flesh between Iruka's thighs and groin. He touched the tip of his tongue to the redness then licked gently. It stung then soothed. Iruka closed his eyes and tried to ignore his growing erection.

"Take off your shirt, let me see your arms too."

Obediently he took off his jacket and shirt. The skin between his shoulders and armpits was just as damaged.

"Shit Iruka, why the hell didn't you say something about this?" Kakashi demanded.

He got a mumbled reply. "There was no point, there was nothing you could do, we had to keep moving."

Kakashi knew it was true and he also knew how much worse his extra weight must have made it.

"Well we'll rest now. We'll stay here tomorrow, maybe we can catch some fish. Some fresh food would be good. Now get us both into the water so that I can clean it properly and get rid of that damn sand."

The water was deep in the middle of the pool, shallower towards the edges. Iruka set out some weapons within easy reach then helped Kakashi slide over the flattened reeds. They made their way towards the bubbles where the cool water of the spring poured into it. The smooth clear water was wonderful. They splashed each other, ducked each other, rinsed the sand and grit out of each other's hair and ran their hands over each other's bodies to clean off the sweat and grime. Like boys playing. But they weren't boys they were lovers and they were both only too aware that they were alone together, in the water, naked.

It was the most physical activity Kakashi had had in days. It stimulated his circulation making his body tingle and starting a fire through his veins. He nudged Iruka gently, making him sit in the edge of the water submerged from the chest down, then straddled him across the waist. Teasing himself, teasing them both.

'How is it? Does it hurt?" He asked, indicating the stripped skin around his arms.

Iruka shook his head. "No, it stung for a moment when the water touched it, but it's fine now."

Kakashi licked at the patch around his left armpit, rolling the flattened tip of his tongue over it, back and forth. The contact with the raw nerve endings made Iruka shudder.

Kakashi stopped. Iruka's eyes were closed and his lips pulled back.

"Does that hurt"?

Iruka shook his head. His answer was almost a gasp. "Just intense."

"Want me to stop?"

Iruka shook his head again. "It's good. Feels good."

Kakashi went back to licking, feeling with the sensitive tip of his tongue for pieces of sand and grit. Soothing with the natural antibiotic of his saliva. When he was done he looked at the cut on Iruka's arm. It was a clean slice, not too deep.

"I'll bandage this before we go to sleep."

He turned his attention to the other side, treating it the same way. By the time he was done Iruka had relaxed into a puddle of mush. Kakashi nipped his nipples gently to rouse him, then moved back into the water between his legs.

"Scoot up, let me get to the rest."

Iruka jumped then used his hands to lever himself three feet higher up the bank, he bent his knees and spread his thighs, exposing himself fully to the wondering tongue. The position created tension in the muscles of his groin while those same muscles were being soothed and relaxed by Kakashi's licking, in a way that stimulated and aroused. At the same time the copy nin's wet soft hair was brushing against his most sensitive part, making it twitch and causing little tremors throughout his body. There were a thousand tiny gentle sensations, each adding to the heat in his groin.

Iruka felt like a flower, fully open, desperate for a bee to come and suck. But not just any bee.

"Want me to carry on licking?" Kakashi asked once he was done.

"Oh God yes… NO! No, you mustn't. Save your energy."

"What can I save it for that's more important than this?"

Then Iruka was lost as wet soft lips slid down his length. Slowly and surely, keeping a tantalisingly leisurely pace, then finally bringing him to completion with a release of tension in his body and mind that left him gasping and shuddering.

"Oh God Kakashi, I think you've killed me."

Kakashi crawled out of the water and lay next to him. "Not this time, but there are worse ways to go."

"Shall I do you now?" Iruka asked, knowing without needing to look how aroused Kakashi must be.

"No. I need the tension. One of us needs to keep some edge." He leaned over and pressed their lips together, letting Iruka taste himself in the kiss. "Go to sleep, I'll wake you in a couple of hours to eat. You need it more than I do now."


	6. Chapter 6

The two men took turns watching through the night. Listening for anything human hidden in the sounds of chirping insects and nocturnal animals. This was enemy territory. They slept and watched wearing their jackets and weapon holsters, leaving the rest of their clothes to dry on the rocks.

Iruka woke to the smell of fish cooking over a campfire.

"Is it safe to have fire?" He asked. He knew that if Kakashi had lit one it must be, but he still wanted to be told.

"There are risks, but no one is looking for us here. Sometimes the best way to hide is in plain sight. I found traces of lots of small groups in these marshes, like the one we ran into today. They would have had a fire."

Iruka nodded and took a roasted fish treaded onto a stout reed. "Did you catch these."

"Yes, did a little training. My speeds good but I've got no strength."

"Can you walk?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Not far, I could with crutches but I couldn't use them here, on this ground. Finish breakfast then help me to get dressed."

"What, you can't even dress yourself yet?"

Kakashi grinned sneakily. "I could but I like the way you blush when you do it."

It earned him a blush.

It wasn't just the blushes he enjoyed. Iruka's strong gentle hands pulling on his clothes, smoothing them and fussing with the fastenings, tempted him to take them right off again. But now wasn't the time.

Iruka's sores had sealed over and the heat had gone out of them as they'd dried overnight. Kakashi looked them over approvingly.

"I don't see why you're making such a fuss." The younger man said, from where the other had him stretched, spread-eagled on the blanket. "They're only really blisters, but bigger."

Kakashi was digging through Iruka's medical supplies. He picked out two different ointments, gauze and tape.

"That's where you're wrong. These are open wounds. You don't know how easy it is to get an infection, in this swamp and this climate. You could be fine today, have a fever tomorrow and be dead the day after."

He smoothed on one of the ointments then picked some smooth dull leaves from a marsh plant and layered them on top. "Wet-me-not leaves. It's a folk remedy, can't hurt and it will stop the gauze from sticking."

Kakashi was almost finished when Iruka felt him pull in his chakra, and he hadn't noticed that it had grown so strong. Then he waited, ears pricked. Iruka reached for a shuriken.

After a few minutes Kakashi relaxed. "Damn. A woman. Alone. Maybe she saw us maybe she didn't. But we can't risk staying here now. We'll have to cover our tracks too."

Iruka dressed quickly, filled all their water bottles and they set off. Kakashi didn't want to be carried. He knew that without a day to heal the fragile scabs on Iruka's sores would tear open easily. Instead he leaned against the other man, for balance and support.

They waded through the pools of shallow water, stepping over plants and around patches of mud. Leaving no sign that they had passed through. The path they traced was an erratic zigzag, full of false starts and misleading turns. They didn't have to plan this, or even think of it consciously. They were ninjas, it was second nature.

After a while the sky brightened as they came to a wide stretch of open water. Two lakes with a narrow strip of land between them. Half a dozen vultures were circling lazily overhead.

Kakashi held them back. "Dammit, those damn birds, they're waiting for us. They knew we'd have to break cover here."

"Can you swim?" Iruka asked. "If I use a jutsu we can go under the surface most of the way."

Kakashi weighed his options. Transporting another person would stretch the chuunin's ability to its limit, and if he had to use his chakra too it might leave them both exhausted.

In the end they didn't have to. A bright flash exploded in the sky and a fork of lightening hit the vulture closest to the far side of the lakes. A bolt from the blue, the perfect distraction.

"Run! Now!" Kakashi ordered as the vulture burst into flames and fell towards the water. He flashed across the bridge of land and into the cover of vegetation on the far side, Iruka ran at his full speed behind him. When he caught up the copy nin was leaning against a tree, breathing heavily.

"Wow, Kakashi!"

He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, my speed's good but I can't keep it up for long."

Iruka moved closer, putting an arm against the tree on either side of the other man. "As I said, wow."

Kakashi opened his mouth slightly and brushed his lips up and down teasingly against the mouth in front of him. "Glad I can still impress you."

"All the time." Iruka mumbled, before catching one of those lips gently between his teeth.

He deepened the kiss, probing with his tongue, melting into it and pressing his captive hard against the tree. Kakashi felt a low groan in his throat, he didn't know which of them it came from and he didn't care. Grabbing Iruka's firm buttocks he pulled him closer, grinding their hips together. Iruka pulled away first, flushed and breathless, slightly embarrassed at being so forward.

"Why Iruka-sensei." Kakashi teased, eye dancing with amusement. "I should bring you out into the wild more often, but let's not get carried away."

The teacher's blush deepened. "Yeah, sorry. So what do you think happened to that vulture?"

"Someone zapped it obviously, but who? Looked like something one of your students would do."

"Could it have been one of those jutsu balls?"

"Probably. We have to be more careful, no letting our guard down again. They must be close."

Almost at once he knew just how close. There was human presence all around and he'd been too distracted to notice. He knew that the kiss hadn't made any real difference, he had to stop and rest for a few minutes anyway, but it made him feel like a genin. For the first time in days he pulled up his mask.

Iruka understood what _that_ meant immediately. "How many?" He whispered.

"Not sure. A lot, maybe forty or fifty."

The threat closed in. It seemed the entire outlaw army was about to cross the land bridge between the two lakes and they had literally run right into the middle of them.

If Kakashi had had his full stealth ability he could have hidden them both until the danger had passed. But it would be a couple of days before he was capable of such advanced jutsu, and if Itachi were there it would be a waste of chakra even trying.

"Henge." He hissed, becoming a flat rock at the base of the tree. Iruka nodded, stepped a few feet away and then there were two trees growing side by side.

The men, and an occasional woman, started to amble past in small clusters. Not silently like ninjas, but not loud and laughing like groups of soldiers either. It looked as if it might just work. One of the men was holding an iridescent ball. He tossed it and caught it carelessly.

"Idiot!" The man next to him yelled grabbing it from him. "Drop one of those fucking dangerous things and anything can happen, you'll blow us all to bloody bits."

He threw the ball angrily at a tree thirty feet away. The tree that was, in fact, Iruka.

In an eyeblink Kakashi swept him out of the way, breaking the henge, and they both landed gently a safe distance away, as the ball exploded into flames.

Iruka could feel Kakashi leaning on him after the sudden effort. He had to act fast. "Just defend yourself. There are a lot of them but they're all spread out and they aren't very quick. I can take them one at a time."

Kkashi nodded, although he was doubtful. He would be ready to step in if he had to. So he dodged for the cover of the nearest large tree. He couldn't afford to leave his back exposed. And prayed that Iruka was right.

Iruka took up a fighting stance. It took a few moments for the men all around to get over their surprise. They looked at each other, chuckling at the gall of the slight man who had suddenly appeared on their turf, apparently threatening them. Then the closest four charged. Iruka was too far from the water to use it effectively, but if he could work his way towards the wet ground nearer the lake he'd improve his chances considerably. He hurled four shurikens.

The first was a kill, hitting the closest man in the throat, severing his carotid artery in a fountain of blood. The second struck the next man in the chest lodging deeply and making him collapse to his knees. The third sliced through the arm of a man who had just drawn a sword, he dropped it more in surprise than pain, but it stopped him in his tracks. And the fourth hit another in the face, destroying his right eye. Not a kill but he wouldn't be doing much more in this fight. It was a good start.

The others hesitated, giving him the chance to leap fifteen feet closer to the lake. A man and a woman closed in from opposite sides. Iruka could tell at once that they were a more serious threat. They moved fluidly, as a team, sizing him up instead of attacking. Then he saw their headbands, the Hidden Mist symbol scratched through with a line. Missing nins. From Hidden Mist too, the village with the reputation for being the fiercest and most bloody of all the ninja villages. And he didn't think they'd left because it was too rough for them there.

He attacked first, if he could face them one at a time he might have a chance. Shooting two kunai from his left hand, he used the time it took the woman to dodge them to leap into a tree, behind the man. It was a small tree, hardly strong enough to take his weight, but it gave him the height he needed. Using the spring of its rebound he pushed high into the air, slicing down onto the mist nin's chest and abdomen with his sword. He was blocked and thrown back easily but landed in a crouch and swung his sword low to cut both the man's legs just below the knees. That had to hurt.

The woman was running to get behind him but fortunately no one else seemed interested in joining the fight. They were standing back watching the show. He jumped to avoid the shurikens she threw in his direction, landing another four feet closer to the water. Then the woman made a mistake. She overshot her mark and in the fraction of a second that it took her to turn back Iruka landed a kick in the center of her chest. He heard ribs crack. Pressing his advantage he threw a kunai into her shoulder and before she could recover her balance he had the tip of his sword at her throat. She sat back on the ground and threw her weapons out of reach. Apparently whatever she was fighting for wasn't worth dying for. The man, meanwhile, had used this time to fill his hands with weapons and was poised to attack. He didn't plan to die, just kill.

Kakashi was almost ignored. Obviously no one had recognised him. Two men hung back from the crowd closing in to watch Iruka and the mist nins. Two men to take out Konoha's Copy Nin. Kakashi smiled behind his mask. They thought he was the weak one that Iruka was protecting and they weren't even treating Iruka as a serious threat. Of course he _was _the weak one but he still had his strengths. They closed in towards him then the larger of the men, a big hairy ape of a man in fact, took out a knife.

It looked like a big butcher knife more than a weapon, just as the man looked more like a butcher than a warrior. He walked right up to the copy nin, almost casually, and raised the knife ready to dispatch him with a single stab through the heart. But before he could complete the move, Kakashi had slit his throat with a kunai, stabbed the same weapon through the top of the other man's head and slumped against another tree. One with no fresh corpses under it. He looked over to where Iruka was fighting. The teacher had brought down five already but he wouldn't be able to keep up that pace for long, and there was a man almost on top of him. Racing through the seals Kakashi filled the area with mist.

Iruka knew at once where the mist had come from. He cursed his bad luck, Kakashi wouldn't be able to see who he was fighting from where he was. The enemy he was fighting _was_ forced to pause in his attack, by laughter at the idiocy of this Leaf ninja who thought he could distract a Mist nin with mist. Iruka knew that he was now at too much of a disadvantage for a straight fight. He retreated to the top of the tallest tree. There may be mist but there were still plenty of leaves here too.

The Mist nin was molding the mist into a net work of patches, some thin and wispy some as thick as dense smoke. It would be impossible to judge distance down there now. He was also creating mist clones at an alarming rate. Well Iruka could do that too. Starting a genjitsu that caused a shower of leaves from the tree to fall as a shower of shuriken, he made for the lake. He formed six water clones, sent two of them up into the treetops and the others straight forward. Then he henged into a mist clone and hid in one of the denser pockets of mist.

The Mist nin and his clones were by now ignoring the shurikens that turned to leaves as they hit the ground and were using the patches of mist to surround Iruka's clones, taking them out one at a time. As the last of those on the ground burst into a shower of water drops, another clone dropped from the tress and held a kunai to the man's back. He turned in time to see one of his own clones kill it with a kunai from twenty feet away. Then he was hit in the shoulder by a shuriken thrown by the clone still in the trees and the clone that had just saved him henged back into Iruka, who pushed a kunai into his chest.

As the Mist nin collapsed to the ground the mist dissipated and his clones disappeared. The rest of the outlaws, angry and frustrated at not being able to follow the fight, saw their champion defeated and surged forward to deal with this pesky Leaf shinobi for once and for all. Kakashi could see the danger Iruka was in. He couldn't fight one on one for more than a few minutes but he could even the odds a little. Molding chakra in his hands he send a small chidori behind the group surrounding Iruka. It exploded throwing the twenty fighters closest to it into the air. So now there weren't so many, but the ones left were more determined than ever.

Iruka swung his sword at the first to reach him, then a voice rang out over the yells of the fighting men.

"Stop!"

The fighters froze, then separated into two groups as a man walked in between them. A tall man, with the distinctive black hair, dark eyes, and striking good looks of an Uchiha.


	7. Chapter 7

The Uchiha advanced slowly, ignoring Iruka and spoke to Kakashi who was sitting, weakened from using his jutsu, twenty yards away under the tree.

"Kakashi-Sensei. I was wondering how I could get you back here and now I see you've come of your own accord."

The voice was familiar, but deeper and harder than he remembered. The face was familiar too, although it had changed from the pretty face of a boy to the startlingly handsome face of a young man.

"Sasuke?"

There was almost the ghost of a smile on the stoic features.

"Yes. After everything my brother has taken from me the least he can do is lend me his name. He's well known by some of the… rougher elements of society, makes it easy to get recruits."

He snarled at the two dozen or so thugs still left standing, flicking his wrist towards them. "Get back, all of you. Before they hurt any more of you idiots, you're no use to me injured."

Iruka was shocked by his anger. As a boy he'd been sullen but had never seemed vicious. "What are you doing here Sasuke, what do you want?"

Sasuke turned towards him glaring. That anger was now directed at him. But Iruka stood his ground, they were surrounded by water, his element. He flashed through seals as fast as he could, staring at Sasuke's feet, carefully avoiding his eyes.

As Iruka's water snake rose from the soggy ground another rose to meet it. They entwined, rearing off the ground like vines finding support in each other's soft bodies, tightened into a single column, then shattered into a spray of water. Iruka started to make more seals, thinking and working his fingers as fast as he could. But before he'd finished the first of them he felt a strong hand on his wrist, holding it still it with no more effort than a child would need to stop a kitten.

"Iruka-sensei, you can't beat me. Don't you know that I can see what you're doing before you do it?"

Then Iruka was frozen in the spin of black on red. For all the hundreds of times he had stared into the depths of a sharigan eye, this was the very first time their power had been used against him. And he was completely helpless against it.

"Leave him Sasuke." Kakashi growled from the shade of the tree. "It's me you want isn't it? Although I can't think why."

The red eyes dulled to dark brown as Sasuke clenched his fist then opened his fingers letting Iruka's hand fall down by his side, the bright red lines left by his grip clearly visible on the teacher's brown skin. Then he grabbed his former teacher by the shoulder, dragged him to where Kakashi was sitting and shoved him down next to him.

"Isn't it obvious Kakashi-sensei, I want your jutsus. A thousand of them, or how many more are there now? I _need_ their power to surpass my brother and defeat him. I only have one more year before Orochimaru comes to collect his… debt. There's no time for me to copy enough of my own. I knew that if I let the rumours spread then they'd send you here eventually, to find out what _Itachi_ is doing in this stinking swamp."

"You deliberately arranged to overload my sharigan to knock me out, so that you could copy my jutsus."

"Exactly, I should be able to copy them all in a couple of weeks. It's different you see with two eyes, and when you have the blood to control them. But I _will_ need your cooperation."

Kakashi spoke gently but firmly, like the older friend and concerned sensei he had once been. "Sasuke, you can't do this, you must come back with us. The seal can be removed and there are other ways to deal with Itachi. I'll give any jutsu to a loyal Konoha shinobi, I gave you my chidori the best of them. But I'll die before I let a traitor take them."

Sasuke snorted. "Yes I know you would die, of course I can still take them. A trick I learned from Orochimaru, taking jutsus from the dead and sealing them in balls. Hidden stone supplies me with a steady supply with their spies. They make useful incentives for my er… army, when they don't blow themselves up with them. But sealing a thousand jutsus in chakra balls? I know you won't give in to torture either. That's why I've decided it's good that you have Iruka-sensei with you, it solves my biggest problem. There are a lot of violent bloodthirsty thugs in these marshes. Not many women, and they're tougher than the men anyway. Iruka-sensei is a very attractive man, if you like that kind of thing."

Iruka looked up at him, eyes shining in fear and disbelief. "You wouldn't do that Sasuke, I've known you since you were a child."

The familiar, yet unfamiliar, mask-like face didn't change. "Yes known, but you don't know me now. I've sold my soul and given away my future to an evil monster for the sake of my vengeance. Do you _still_ think there are things I won't do?"

Kakashi spoke calmly but Iruka could feel the hand on his arm quivering with fear. "This isn't you Sasuke! The curse seal has poisoned your soul but it's not to late, we can still help you."

The Uchiha laughed. Neither of them had ever heard him laugh in the years they'd known him. And if he had, this wasn't the laugh they would have expected to hear. It wasn't human. But when he spoke the despair in his voice hinted that there might still be humanity, far enough underneath.

"You have no idea how much too late it is. The curse poison _is_ my soul now. That's all that's left of me, poison and vengeance." He paused then continued coldly. "I'll give you a while to think it over." Bending close to the two men he whispered, a quiet hiss without the slightest trace of emotion. "Iruka-sensei, I'm sure you won't get badly hurt. Kakashi-sensei won't hold out for long when he sees that I mean it."

He stood up and laughed, the same inhuman laugh, so wrong for his handsome young face. "Don't bother trying to escape, I'll be watching." His eyes flashed from brown back to red, swirling wildly. Then, with a dismissive wave to his underlings, he turned and walked away.

The nearest group closed in on the pair on the ground. One of them, a fat bald man with blue and red demons tattooed on his head and face, crouched low. He crawled along the ground like an animal, grunting and laughing, until he was just inches from Iruka. Then he stuck out his tongue to full length, grinning obscenely, and slowly swiped it up the length of the teacher's face. Kakashi's hand shot out and grabbed his arm. Also tattooed, Iruka noted distantly, before hearing it snap. The man screamed, staggered to his feet, and ran off into the heart of the swamp. Turning back to hurl curses and profanities as he went.

"You shouldn't have done that." Iruka whispered. "There's no point making them mad."

The copy nin put his arms around the man huddled next to him, his voice a low growl. "I won't let this scum touch you Iruka. I'll see what I can do to create a distraction, if you can get to the water you can escape."

The other man flashed him an angry look. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm damn well not going anywhere without you. I'm a Konoha shinobi not a helpless wimp. We'll get out of this together."

Kakashi pulled up his headband and tugged down his mask. Staring intently at Iruka's terrified determined face. Then he kissed him, ignoring the laughter and hoots of the men and women stamping their feet in delight and shouting obscene suggestions. They held the kiss for a long time.

Eventually Iruka pulled the mask back up and the headband back down. "You have to keep this covered, it's not safe."

He leaned a little closer, whispering. "You can't let him take you. You told me that in the cave. Sasuke is one thing but you can't risk Orochimaru getting your jutsus as well as the sharigans. Gather your strength and when they come to take me use your speed to get as far away as you can. Then just rest and wait, I'll escape somehow. I'll find you. I promise."

Kakashi held him tighter. "But Iruka…"

The teacher shook his head. "It's the only way to protect me, both of us. Sasuke won't do anything to me if you're not here, there's no point."

Kakashi nodded then leaned back against the tree, holding Iruka's hand on his lap.

When he opened his eyes again Sasuke was standing over him. "So Kakashi-sensei, have you made your decision?"

The copy nin looked grim. "You already know my answer."

Sasuke dropped an orange book onto his lap. "In that case you'll regret leaving this here before. Everyone has found it very amusing, but it may have given them some unfortunate ideas."

He grabbed Iruka's ponytail to pull him to his feet then held him by an arm. And at that moment Kakashi disappeared.

"Dammit! Get after him!" Sasuke ordered throwing Iruka aside. "And don't lose him this time." He stood staring into the marsh, sharigans swirling but activated too late to help him, as his followers scrambled to attention and scurried off in all directions.

Iruka took the opportunity to make it most of the way to the lake, but before he could reach the water's edge Sasuke was standing in his way. Without a moment's hesitation he leapt straight at him and plunged them both into the water.

He had expected pain, burning pain, but there wasn't any. Kakashi's leaves, wet-me-not leaves he'd called them. _Were they keeping the water away from his sores?_ But Sasuke didn't have leaves over his eyes. In the harsh stinging mineral water the Uchiha wouldn't be able to open his eyes, so he wouldn't be able to use his sharigans. That was what Iruka had been counting on. Of course he couldn't open his eyes either but _he_ didn't need eyes to find his way in the water. Water was his element. Avoiding Sasuke's wildly kicking legs, he pulled him deep below the surface then, darting through the water like a fish, wove a web of chakra around him. A ball of delicate energy containing a sphere of water. Water that was completely under his control, meaning that inside the sphere Sasuke was also under his control.

Iruka took a breath from the surface then went back to guard the man rolling on the bottom of the lake. Three minutes, if he could keep him down there for three minutes Sasuke would lose consciousness. Then he could pull him back to the surface and escape. He would find Kakshi and be safe, Kakashi would be safe_. It must be nearly three minutes already._ He was probing for the position of the ball when a burst of energy half stunned him. Instinctively he jutsued to the surface. In time to see Sasuke's chidori shooting into the sky and Sasake climbing unsteadily out of the lake.

The swirling red sharigans turned towards him, holding him in their hypnotic glare. He was dimly aware of more chakra being molded somewhere below them.

"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei, I really didn't want you to get hurt but I _must _avenge my clan. I cannot let _anything _stop me and now you are getting in my way."

Then with a high pitched shriek that startled every bird and animal for miles, the light exploded in Sasuke's hands and for the second time in a few minutes Iruka caught the edge of a chidori blast. When the ringing in his ears had stopped he stumbled his way out of the water and went over to where Sasuke was lying on the ground. He felt for a pulse in his neck.

"Is he dead?"

It was Kakashi's voice.

Iruka looked around. The dead and injured outlaws had all been moved but there was still one body propped against the same tree they'd sat under earlier.

"Kakashi?"

A hand waved lazily. "Yo."

Still staggering from the blast, he ran to the tree and knelt down beside him. Grinning so hard that his face ached. "But Kakashi, what are you doing here"

The copy nin was grinning just as wide. "I came back as soon as I could. You wouldn't go anywhere without me, did you really expect me to go without you?"

Iruka's head was reeling, from the two blasts, from the shock, from surprise, from everything. "Was that your chidori?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I just got off a little blast, all I had and now I'm completely wasted again. But it was enough to explode his before it was properly formed." His expression became grim. "So is he dead?"

This time Iruka shook his head. "Just unconscious."

The older man's expression became grimmer still. "You know what we have to do Iruka."

The other's eyes went wide and he sucked in a gasp. "But Kakashi, that's Susuke. He isn't really bad you said so yourself, it's just the curse that's poisoned him. We can still save him."

Kakashi held Iruka's face in his hands and looked into his eyes. "He's a missing nin Iruka. We can take him back or we can kill him." He waited a moment for it to sink in. "Can you carry both of us?"

Iruka looked down. His answer was barely audible. "No."

Kakashi lifted his chin forcing him to make eye contact again. "Do you want to take him and leave me?"

Iruka shook his head again, unable to speak. There were tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes."

"Then take me over there and give me your sword."

Iruka's heart felt like lead in his chest as he eased Kakashi into a standing position. He was hooking an arm over his wet shoulder to takethe weight when they saw Sasuke lift himself onto one elbow and vanish.

"Dammit. He copied my jutsu, the one I used to get away before."

Iruka couldn't hold back a weak smile. "But now we have another chance. If we can stop Orochimaru before…"

Kakashi brushed the tears from Iruka's cheeks with the back of his hand. "Yes there's hope. But I wonder where _his_ safest place is."

Then he allowed himself to sink back down to the ground and lean into the tree. "Now I'm going to sleep."

"Here?"

"It's the only place no one will look for us."

Iruka nodded and sat beside him. He kept watch for a while then he fell asleep too.

When Kakashi woke up there was someone standing over him, but this time it wasn't Sasuke. It was a woman wearing a headband inscribed with an hourglass, a Sand nin. One of a group of six.

"Umino-san." She said, startling Iruka awake. "We found dead Stone warriors in the desert, then we received a message on a carrier hawk saying that you didn't return home. We've been searching for you."

She bowed to Kakashi. "Hatake-sama? We heard the noise and saw the light. Was that the famous chidori?"

Kakashi was carried back to Konoha on a litter with Iruka walking beside him. It took two days but gave him time to recover most of his strength. After a long debriefing they were home, bathed, relaxed, fed, and lying on their bed.

Kakshi rolled onto his side and looked at Iruka possessively. "Now finally I have you where I can do what I've been longing to do for days."

Iruka blushed fiercely. "Kakashi, are you sure you're ready. It hasn't been a full week yet and you haven't been resting the way you should, you pushed yourself past your limit over and over..."

"I'm sure, come closer."

Iruka closed the gap between them to about a foot.

Kakashi shook his head. "Closer than that."

Iruka moved to within two inches.

Kakashi licked the tip of his index finger and traced it over Iruka's lower lip making his mouth fall open by half an inch. He did the same with his upper lip, his scar, and along his collarbone. Lingering to place a kiss in the little notch at the base of his throat. Iruka closed his eyes and swallowed. He could feel Kakashi's hot breath on his face and the closeness of his skin. He tilted his head back into the pillow and his tongue found its way to between his lips, leaving him panting softly. Kakashi was on top of him, one knee on either side. He teased Iruka's tongue with the tip of his own as he brushed his fingertips over dark hair, in long languid strokes. Iruka slitted his eyes open just enough to catch a glimpse of something in his hand.

"Now Iruka-sensei I'm going to comb the tangles out of your hair."

The End.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

A brief note from the storyteller.

Well folks, it's been fun. But I just started a new story and it's going to be long. A novel and it's not about our lovely pair, it has no ninjas at all so you won't see it here. Because I like to finish what I start I'll be gone a very long time. Maybe forever, but then again those muses can be pesky little buggers.

Thanks to the loyal readers who've read and reviewed regularly, we both know who you all are but due to new rules I'm not allowed to name names. And to others who've dropped a thoughtful review when they felt the urge. (Although I will risk a note to dk-joy, good luck with your education. It's what makes us human.)

So enjoy the Kakashi Iruka stories I've written if they're to your taste. If not, read something else or write your own.

Tampopo.


End file.
